Kelly, Smith next on Eagles' list

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly could have stomped out all talk of joining the Eagles as their head coach before taking his vacation.

He didn’t, and at the potential risk of losing top recruits.

While the national letter of intent day for football is Feb. 6th, it only takes the competition a minute to point out that as long as Kelly is coach of the Fighting Irish, every year will bring uncertainty as he meets with NFL suitors.

Meanwhile the Eagles were scheduled to meet Thursday with veteran NFL head coach Lovie Smith, who was canned by the Chicago Bears after missing the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six years.

Smith was a coach of the year candidate after leading the Bears to a 7-1 start this season. Faster than you could say Rich Kotite, who got off to a 7-2 start with the Eagles before losing out in 1994, the Bears collapsed down the homestretch and failed to reach the playoffs.

The Eagles hadn’t confirmed the Smith interview as of early evening.

The Eagles wouldn’t furnish dates but said they would interview offensive coordinators Bruce Arians of the Indianapolis Colts and Jay Gruden of the Cincinnati Bengals, and defensive coordinator Gus Bradley of the Seattle Seahawks.

Back to Kelly, who led Notre Dame to the BCS championship game and reportedly will have another talk with the Eagles about their coaching vacancy when he returns from vacation.

A ‘yes’ from Kelly would give the Eagles possibly their best game-day coach since Dick Vermeil patrolled the sidelines 27 years ago. Vermeil also is the team’s last head coach to jump to the NFL directly from college.

The Bears denied reports they were interested in Kelly, who’s represented by Trace Armstrong, a first-round pick of the team in 1989.

Armstrong was a standout defensive end for the Bears. He knows the league and its teams inside out, having served as president of the NFL Players Association for eight years. Armstrong narrowly lost to DeMaurice Smith in the voting for executive director of the NFLPA.

If the Eagles still are a good organization to work for, Armstrong will make that clear to the 51-year-old Kelly.

Kelly, despite the 28-point loss to Alabama, is coming off a successful three-year hitch in which he produced a 28-11 record for the Fighting Irish. Kelly is under contract through 2016, Notre Dame having exercised a two-year extension on the original deal said to be worth $2.5 million annually according to reports.

It’s not known what type of buyout clause Kelly has.

The Eagles failed in their attempt to lure Chip Kelly away from Oregon. Chip Kelly almost certainly would have commanded a contract averaging $6 million.

Brian Kelly would be looking at a significant raise should he decide to take an Eagles offer when he returns this weekend from his out-of-the-country vacation, per reports.

In addition to Chip Kelly, the Eagles came up short in their courtship of Bill O’Brien, the Penn State coach.

With Chip Kelly and O’Brien using interviews with NFL teams to leverage their employers for more money, there’s speculation Brian Kelly is doing the same thing. Time will tell.

In addition to the Kellys and O’Brien, the Eagles have interviewed defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and special teams coach Keith Armstrong of the Atlanta Falcons, and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy of the Denver Broncos.

Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was named to the Pro Football Weekly-PFWA’s all-rookie team.

With 5 1-2 sacks, Cox wound up tied for the team lead with Brandon Graham and Jason Babin.